The death of Ethna Barror, conductor of the Lindsay Singers, on Thursday 17 February 2011in her 96th year  brought to an end a unique chapter in the choral life of Ireland, and of the Cork International Choral Festival.    She was justifiably celebrated in her lifetime as the country’s foremost and most successful choral conductor.  Her reputation, and that of her choirs, was acknowledged at home and abroad.  Her ability to perform music of all genres and periods to the highest international standards was her hallmark.   Her standards were high and, while performing and presenting many concerts, she loved in particular the tension and sharp-edged element of competition.

Her association with the Cork International Choral Festival was very central to her ambitions and she delighted our audiences for 30 years (1969 – 1998) with performances of singular brilliance.  Who will forget her performances of Kodaly, Villa Lobos, and Caplet?  Her choirs, be they Lindsays, Young Lindsays, or Lynnettes, never faltered in their technical and musical standards but it was in her ability to communicate the essential qualities of all music to her audience that she excelled.  Through her, the music lived its full and complete life.  Her final competitive platform in Cork was ultimately so appropriate as the Lindsay Singers gained 1^st Prize in the internationally acclaimed Fleischmann International Trophy Competition in 1998 when she would have been 83 years of age.   The Lindsays also premiered new commissions, written specially for the Festival’s Seminar on Contemporary Music, at the evening concerts to high acclaim.  The Trois chansons de Verlaine by Gerard Victory, and, particularly, her interpretation of Elizabeth Maconchy’s Prayer before birth, will remain in this writer’s memory as being one of the most consummately moving performances he has heard.  It was a particular honour for the Festival when she accepted our invitation to officially open the Festival in 1994 on the 25^th Anniversary of The Lidsays first performance in Cork.  In closing her speech she said “….we need this Festival; it needs us….” – how true a statement,   we needed her, we admired her, and we loved her.

The Cork International Choral Festival extends its sympathy to her family, and her friends.  Ní fheicfear a leithéid arís.